Chapter 518 - Sanctums End (V) (1/2)
CHAPTER 518
SANCTUM'S END (V)
Eldon yawned lowly and stretched, rolling sideways and stumbling out of the bed. The first signs of the dawn perched through the curtained windows, barely giving him enough light to see where he was. Getting up, he glanced backward at the still-sleeping Alana, muffling his footsteps so he doesn't wake her, quickly making his way over to the kitchen.
The mornings were awfully cold and empty; sitting alone in the silent room gave way to many thoughts he didn't want to have, which is why he usually tried hurrying up with his morning routine and leaving for work.
Today he wasn't going to the House of Cosmic Collection as he was temporarily being resigned to the Galactic Registry due to the shortage of manpower. It wouldn't be his first time, but he didn't like going there as it was generally filled with a rather arrogant lot who always ignored him. A job is a job, however, and he stepped out of the apartment with a sigh and the faintest determination.
The Transport waited from him right outside, but luckily he didn't have to pay for it as it was organized by his supervisor. It was still the cheapest kind, but it didn't matter; he never experienced luxury, to begin with, and had little to feel depressed about.
Though it was still early, there were still quite a few people either going to or returning from their jobs. The surrounding buildings which seemed to defy the heavens in their size, shape and make, used to be looked at as monuments worthy of devotion. He still remembered, as a kid, walking down the Roney Lane, the most popular stretch of land in the city, hosting the most important buildings. The high-rises were new, especially the tall ones, and nobody could help but stop and sigh in awe at them. Now? He didn't even notice them.
After a fifteen minutes long journey, he was dropped off in front of an egg-shaped building, laid horizontally on the side, curved perfectly. It was surrounded by a massive pool of water beaming a reflection of the building's framework. It was a rather spectacular sight, though Eldon imagined the architects didn't want to be known as the ones who designed the 'egg building', as their initial idea was the galaxy-shaped building.
Faintly chuckling at his own random thoughts, he made his way over the framed, steel bridge and through the automatic doors. Insides were immaculate, spreading out into a wide cone walled off by beautifully decorated motifs of the cosmos, over twenty elevators and two sets of stairwells spaced out to perfection. The reception desk was held up by six people dressed in the traditional white-spun satin. Flashing his badge at them, he was oriented to the leftmost stairwell as he didn't have enough clearance to use the elevators.
Sighing, he shook his head and began climbing -- at the very least it wasn't eighteen floors, and he only had to climb three.
The third floor was gated in eight quarters, the one he was assigned to be in right to the left of the stairwell. It stretched into a quarter-circle shape, over fifty monitors hanging on the inside walls, the central part separated by walls, turned into a cubicle, while the rest of the desks were strewn about at random, some extruded from the walls and some from the floors.
He quickly spotted his supervisor, a slightly older woman, Reli. She was nearly as tall as him, bald-headed, her skin gleaming in the slight cyan -- a byproduct of the activity popular among the rich, Ice-dipping. Apparently, as far as Eldon heard at least, it kept the skin elastic and was immensely popular.
As she spotted him, she waved at him and smiled; despite the difference in their status, she was among the few that didn't treat him as air, but instead as another person.
”You made it.” she said, smiling still, her green eyes -- hidden behind a pair of what Eldon considered to be hideous glasses, though he'd seen plenty of richer people wearing them -- glistening.
”Hm,” Eldon nodded. ”Traffic was light.”
”That's good,” she nodded. ”I'm sorry to call you here, but they're really short-staffed -- it's just for today, don't worry.”
”It's fine,” he shrugged. ”Work is work. What will I be doing?”
”Ah, it's similar to the last time,” she explained. ”You just have to go over the last week's registry and remove the red flags.”
”Hm, alright,” he said, sitting down at the chair and pulling the screen down to his level; there were over 200,000 entries, which immediately caused him a headache. ”Ugh, this... is gonna take a while...”
”You can just use the filters for the initial sweep,” she said, sitting next to him and smiling apologetically. ”For instance, if you type in 'lifeforms', you should be able to shave off a lot of entries as they're usually false flags.” a
”Ah, alright, thanks,” Eldon nodded, quickly following the instructions; the interface of the program they used was still as messy as he remembered it being. It looked like something developed half a century ago; even the program at the Cosmic Collection wasn't as bad. ”Wasn't today supposed to be your day off?” he asked her as he saw she had no intention of leaving just yet.